


do no good

by orphan_account



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abused Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Needs a Hug, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Sweetheart, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders is a Sweetheart, Dark Sides As Family (Sanders Sides), Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Let Remy Sleep 2020, M/M, Multi, Physical Abuse, Protective Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Protective Deceit | Janus Sanders, Queerplatonic Relationships, Relationships that are somewhat romantic but mostly platonic, Sassy Sleep | Remy Sanders, Spider Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Sympathetic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides), Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, The Dark Sides Are the Halloween Sides, Trans Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Trans Male Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Unsympathetic Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Unsympathetic Logic | Logan Sanders, Unsympathetic Morality | Patton Sanders, fuck you that's why, janus is totally the mom friend, klaus and remus are feral children who give janus migraines, romantic relationships, virgil needs love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26897344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: the itsy-bitsy spider crawled up the waterspot. down came the rain and washed the spider outorIn which the Light Sides aren't as good as they seem and the Dark Sides want their youngest back
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Original Male Character(s), Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Original Male Character(s), Deceit | Janus Sanders/Sleep | Remy Sanders
Comments: 81
Kudos: 462





	1. thanks for the memories

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! 
> 
> we'll see how this goes.

Janus screwed up.

He knew he should have never left Remus to his own devices. Fuck that creative demon, wherever the hell he was now. 

“Y’know, you could just let it go.” Wrath’s voice resounded through the air from where he was laying down, feet dangling from the edge of the couch. 

Janus dragged his hand through his hair, internally screaming. “Yes, I will  **totally** do that and I will  **totally** risk bringing the light sides into this. You know how  **helpful** they are.” He hissed, lying through his teeth.

Wrath rolled his eyes. “Fine. Have it your way. But don’t come complaining to me when Remus turns out to be completely fine and covered with blood.”

Janus let out a screech ( _ That’s not what I’m worried about!) _ and stormed out of the room, his cape swishing dramatically behind him. Fuck this, fuck wrath, fuck remus and his destructive tendencies, fuck the light sides, fuck this life. His yellow gloves were clenched, the silk fabric cool to the touch. He had left his hat in his room, leaving his head bare. Remus wasn’t in his room, he wasn’t in anyone else’s, he wasn’t in one of the many rooms that he had decided to create in the dark side mindscape, he wasn’t in the kitchen, wherecouldhebe-

Well.

He hadn’t checked  _ that  _ room yet.

Steeling himself, he walked toward the end of the hallway toward where their rooms were. Dragging his feet, he passed Wrath’s and Remus’ rooms, painted with orange flames and green tentacles respectively.He ignored Remy’s, completely painted rainbow. He passed his own, painted black with gold lines, pausing in front of the solid gray door. 

The door in the light sides was black and purple. Janus had never known that  **he** had liked purple.

Ignoring the conflicting emotions, Janus shoved open the door, coughing slightly at the dust that flew in his face. 

Remus wasn’t here. Damn it.

Remus wouldn’t even want to be in here, Janus reflected, he’d wouldn’t want to be reminded of  **him** .

Taking a deep breath, Janus sat down on the bed, the black comforter creasing with his weight. He gazed at the room, taking in the small room. It was pretty messy, no one having cleaned up in a while. There were clothes thrown throughout the room, random hoodies and shirts creating a second carpet on the floor. Funko figures littered the top of the dresser, a Amethyst and Spider-man figurine among them. There was a bean bag thrown in the corner, unused and gathering dust. Janus lips twitched slightly as he saw the horror movie posters, remembering the fights in the living room on movie night.

_ “Freddy Krueger can have my ass anyday! I would die peacefully knowing he haunts my wet dreams!” Remus stuck out his tongue as he dangled the remote over the spider’s head. _

_ “Ew! Can’t you at least choose something with a villain that doesn’t look like a drunk coming out of a christmas party?” _

_ Remus thought about this for a minute. “It?” he offered, “The new one with clown that I would definitely allow to ea-” _

_ “Okay, okay!” the hoodie-clad side raised his arms as Wrath and Janus laughed from the couch, “Just play the damn movie.” _

There were also hand-drawn pictures on the walls, most of them from Remus, but a few from Wrath, the orange side begrudgingly letting his artwork be hung up. ( _ It’s really good, Wrath. I love it, I swear.)  _ There were also weapons strewn about, evidence of Remus’ doing. A scythe was behind the door, it edges dull and unsharpened. A few knives were also flung about, one hilt deep in the wall. Janus wondered briefly if it had been  **him** to do it before  **he** left or Remus had done it. Wrath had refused to step inside of the room. The garrote was missing, but Janus knew for a fact that Remus had taken it a while ago. (“ _ Give me it back!” “Uh-uh, little shadow! You want it back, you talk to me.” “Oh, fuck you.” “Dinner first~.”)  _

  
  


Photos littered the dresser, covered with dust. One was of them when they were children, grinning and looking like pure embodiments of chaos. Remus with his white streak of hair and a pre-teen mustache, smiling maniacally with his bright green eyes. Wrath was scowling, ember-orange eyes and a denim vest, his arms crossed. Remy was leaning against him, golden eyes and black hair, his attention fixed on the Starbucks coffee in his hand. Janus was right next to him, bowler hat and yellow shirt, smirking into the camera. He and Wrath were the same height at the time. Remus was draped over the smallest side, who was smiling slightly at the camera, light gray eyes hesitant. Black hair was as long as it ever had been, tied up and tucked into the hoodie. Another photo was just of Janus, Remus, and Remy, the two playing a board game. Janus can’t remember what it was anymore. Monopoly probably. It was the likely excuse for the scene in the picture, Janus poised and smirking, while Remus was flipping the board and Remy was glaring at him from over his sunglasses. The third was of Wrath and Remus, the latter laughing as the former was on top of him, trying to wrestle for the remote. They nearly destroyed the living room that night. 

_ “What were you two thinking?!” Janus was literally steaming with rage.  _

_ “I don’t think they were thinking, babes. More like reacting.” _

_ Janus hissed at him. Remy rolled his eyes and sauntered off toward the couch. Wrath and Remus were standing side by side, Wrath looking sheepish and Remus grinning proudly. Janus hissed at the both of them. “You’re doing the dishes tonight.” _

_ Wrath and Remus looked relieved. It could be worse.  _

_ Janus jerked his head toward the couch. “Go.” The two scampered off toward the couch. _

_ He sighed as the sound of stifled giggles reached his ears. “Oh, you have something to add?” _

_ The hoodie-clad side was laughing as he turned the corner. He laid a hand on Janus’ arm, grinning up at him. “You’re such a mom.” _

_ Janus was reasonably offended by this. “Am not!” _

_ The spider raised his eyebrows and said nothing, entering the living room. Janus followed, sitting down next to Remy. “I am not a mom.” _

_ The emo flopped down onto his lap. “Yes. Yes you are.”  _

_ Janus scowled at him as the others started snickering, pretending to look offended, but he couldn’t help the small smile that tugged on the edges. _

Janus sighed. It did no one any good to dwell on old memories. It just kept hurting the scars and scabs that heal over them. He stood up, adjusting and straightening the comforter, ignoring the ache in his chest. As Janus left the room, he stood at the doorway, looking into the former dark side’s bedroom with an unreadable look on his face. He shut the door and walked off, calling out to Wrath and Remy to help him find Remus.

No good dwelling on what might’ve been.

⭑

Unbeknownst to him, a shadow crept out from where it was hiding underneath the bed. That’s all it was, a small, black shadow. Completely night-black, the edges could be described as ink in water, curving and slightly transparent. It curled in on itself, only being maybe a foot tall. If someone had been there watching it, they would’ve said it was almost listening to what it heard outside the door. 

A loud crash could be heard and it flinched.

And vanished.


	2. feral feeling, swaying sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus has a mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW 
> 
> U! Patton  
> Slight U!Roman
> 
> Seriously, you should have read the tags

**Remus was bored.**

It could get  _ so  _ repetitive in the Dark Side. Deceit hisses, Remy whines, and Wrath growls and threatens to commit murder.

He was  _ so  _ over it.

Remus was used to the reactions by now. He needed something new to do, someone else to bother.

And who was better than his identical carbon copy, Prince Prissy-Pants the First and his friends?

Remus skipped into Imagination, humming and swinging his morningstar around like it was a toy. This was  _ his  _ side, all twisted trees and nightmare creatures with sharp teeth and claws that disembowel you with a single twitch. The land seemed to be sentient, roots constantly moving and trees that blocked your path and led you to places that you had no idea existed. The landscape constantly shifted, barren battlefields one time and seas of unknown things the next. Creatures lurked in caves and in shadows, hungry for meals and entertainment. This wasn’t exactly a place to bring Sandy and the kids, if you know what I’m sayin’.

But this was Remus’ place. The only place where he could bring his ideas to life and inflict his will as he pleased. 

He stopped at the border of the imagination, a small stream separating the two. His worn boots scuffed up the wet mud at the edges. It was the only thing he couldn’t manipulate in this realm. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move the stream. Remus bet it was the same for Roman.

Grinning, he leapt over the stream, easily bending the thin barrier that was there. His feet hit the ground, hard, making a squelching kind of sound. Remus took a moment to survey his surroundings, lush green trees and green grass, wildflowers and castles off in the distance.

It was disgusting. Yeah, Remus knew he shouldn’t be one passing judgements, but c’mon, really?

He stalked off into the forest, sparing one last glance at the Dark Side of the Imagination. Remus kept silent, fingers twitching with anticipation. He avoided the villages and the creatures that dwelled here. It would do no good to get caught.

A slow smile spread across his face when he finally reached his destination. A solid red wooden door with golden swashes painted over it. He skipped over to it, reaching over toward the knob and snarled, quickly snatching his hand back. Examining the red burn now on his hand, he looked over to the door. There must be an invisible barrier around the door, Remus guessed. Another way to keep those disgusting Dark Sides out of the precious Light Side Mindscape.

Oh well. 

It took one strike of his morningstar and the shield was down. And Remus was in.

♚

Where to first?

Logan was no fun, with his science and data. He was such a bore. No reactions whatsoever! He just stood there, completely unimpressed with whatever Remus threw at him. Literally. Seriously, you’d think one might react a little when you stab them with a knife. But nope! It’s all “ _ Have a little maturity, Remus.”  _ or worse,  _ “I don’t know who’s worse: you with your ideas or Roman with his primping and prancing. _

Their relationship must be  _ awesome. _

So Logan was a no-go. Remus would have better luck getting a reaction out of a microwave. Dear ol dad was a better choice, but he was very predictable. The usual scream, hand over heart, summoning the other sides to witness how disgusting and terrible the Duke was. If Remus really wanted to be guilt-tripped, he would’ve listened to his conscience! 

(That was a joke. Remus didn’t have a conscience.)

Also, Remus didn’t have a kink for being split apart into two. He had a lot, Remus would admit, but dying and forming two separate personalities was not one of them. So, no, Patton was not today’s choice. 

That left Roman and …...

The ~~lovely,~~ traitorous spider. 

Remus did consider it, waltzing into the spider’s room and hitting  ~~ kissing  ~~ **him** . Scaring that  ~~ pretty  ~~ face and letting all the anger  ~~ sadness  ~~ finally erupt.

But if he did that,  ~~ then  **he** might never talk to me again,  ~~ Janus would be furious. Alas, that meant he was left with his less fun mirror image, Roman. He hadn’t seen him in a bit. 

This was going to be so much fun!

♛

Roman was in the mind palace, in his room. He was by himself, which was great. No witnesses and no surprises. 

Patton was in the kitchen, humming to himself and baking things that were edible, which Remus thought was simply disgusting. What’s the point of eating something if you’re sure you’re not going to die?! The suspense is the whole point!

Logan was probably off in his library, lost in his books and data. Good. The more distracted the logical side was, the more room Remus had to work with.

The spider was …. missing. Which was strange, but completely fine with Remus. As long as he didn’t see  **him** , Remus could keep going.

He was in the hallway, at the end of it, actually. It was weird. 

Grinning maniacally, he slipped down the hallway and paused, right in front of Roman’s door. Wincing, Remus looked away for a moment. It was red and white and gold, completely blinding anyone who even glanced at it. It was over-the-top, garish, and completely unnecessary.

It screamed Roman.

Remus pressed his ear against the door, listening for any sign that Roman might’ve detected Remus' presence. He was greeted by mumbled disney songs and snores. 

Oh. He was asleep. 

Remus quickly said a prayer to whatever god was obviously blessing him with good luck and quietly slipped into Roman’s room.

♚

“Remus!”

Said Duke in question was hanging from the ceiling of Roman’s room. He smiled at his enraged twin. “Yes, brother dear?”

“Turn what back?” Roman was furious. This was great! Best entertainment ever.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about! Turn them back this instant!”

There were a few things that got Roman this mad. Insulting his honor, messing with his vanity, and of course, screwing with his disney shit.

His posters were bleeding green goo. And were now somewhat, well, twisted. Let’s just say the villains won this time.

Cruella definitely got her new coat.

Remus pretended to think it over. “I dunno, Ro. I like them like this.”

Roman turned a shade of red. “I don’t care if you like them,” he scoffed, “I don’t take interior designing advice from a homicidal maniac.”

Ouch. Remus disentangled himself from the ceiling, landing with a soft thud on the floor. Better not to get Patton engaged in all of this. He shrugged, facing Roman. “That’s too bad. I was gonna change them back, but,” he gestured to Roman, who had gone a pale shade of white, “I guess you don’t want my input.”

Roman reached out a hand. “Remus, wait-”

Remus shook his head and moved to the door, enjoying the reaction on Roman’s face. “Sorry, bro. You said it yourself. You don’t need my advice.”

He slipped out the door and closed it, sprinting down the end of the hall, his shoulders shaking with laughter as he heard the enraged shriek from behind the door. Remus turned the corner and slid to a stop, laughing from behind his hand. Remus sat down, back against the wall, trying to regain his breath. He couldn’t, as he remembered Roman’s angry red face and promptly burst into laughter. It was made funnier by the fact that the actual posters were stacked neatly in his closet. Roman could summon more. 

A cold, probing feeling at his hand stopped his giggles. Remus looked down to see a small shadow at his side, about a foot in length and width. It resembled a blob of ink in water, the edges transparent and curving. It had no eyes and no mouth, but it acted like a cat. One of the tentacles at the edges, was touching his hand, almost inquisitive. Remus squinted at it. “Are you one of my creations?”

The shadow ignored him, instead climbing onto his lap. It was light, maybe a pound or two in weight. Remus poked it, the shadow recoiling. “Yeah, I don’t remember creating you.”

The shadow purred. Remus pet it, the shadow being cold and having the texture of silk. “I like you. You’d be great for more pranks.”

It purred, it’s entire body rumbling as it curled into Remus’ chest. He felt peaceful for once, feeling relaxed as the shadow purred, vibrating. It was just so-

“Remus!”

Remus jolted upright, looking up to find a very angry Morality. He sighed. Good things never last. Scanning the hallway, he noticed the shadow had vanished. Pushing the feelings of disappointment and anger down, he faced the paternal side with a deranged smile.

“Ah, Patton! Pleasure seeing you again!” He summoned his morningstar, bracing it against his shoulder. With Patton, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Patton was angry, but he was trying hard not to show it. He smiled sweetly at Remus. “I heard that you and Roman got into a small spat today. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could go fix that small mistake you made? And then we can all go our own happy ways.”

Remus let out a dry laugh at that. “He can go fix my forest first. It’s still burned in some parts.”

Patton’s smile turned tense. “Well, since you’re already here, wouldn’t it be better for you to fix Roman’s stuff?”

Remus examined his fingernails. “No. I want him to fix my forest.”

Patton dropped his smile. “He can’t go into your forest. It would be unsafe for him to be there. You know what kind of creatures lurk in there!”

Remus scoffed. “It wasn’t unsafe for him to come into my forest when he wanted to take down “the bad guys”.’

Patton glared at him. “Fix it. And get out. You’re not wanted here.” 

“Or what?” Remus’ lips twitched, “What will you do if I don’t fix it?” 

Morality was shorter than him and not as physically strong. He did have the most control of the mindscape, but he couldn’t risk using it against Remus or he’d bring down the wrath of Janus. 

He started to walk away, keeping his guard up and an ear out if Patton tried to make a move. Remus heard Patton call out to him as he reached the door to the imagination. “You’ll regret it,” Patton warned, watching him with unwavering light-blue eyes as Remus crossed the threshold.

Remus turned to him and cocked his head. “Do I ever?”

As he left the Light Side Mindscape, Remus could’ve sworn he saw Morality smile sickeningly, but he put it out of his mind as he crossed the barrier to the Imagination and prepared to meet Janus's rage.

  
  


⭑

  
  


The small shade slipped into the room, moving past the piles of broken things to find the small, huddled form sitting precariously near the head of the bed. It wove around the form’s wrist, purring as the form ran a hand over it. A smile tugged at the edge of their mouth.

“I miss them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, I didn't mean for this chapter to have angst. It just happened.
> 
> I actually have a plot now, so now I just need motivation.


	3. only in my dreams {can i love you}

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> remy deals with his emotions by not dealing with them at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW ~ 
> 
> Angst. 
> 
> Vague U!Logan
> 
> Vague descriptions of injuries

**Remy loved drama.**

How could he not?

The suspense, the tension, the way everything could be flipped on a dime in an instant. He supposed it was why he had wanted to stay with the Dark Sides instead of being with the Light Sides. The Lights were pretty bland and not as close-knit, acting more like roommates than friends. The Darks were a family, a close one at that. But that didn’t mean they didn’t have their moments now and then.

Take for instance right now, as an exhausted Janus berated a smiling Remus. Wrath was in the kitchen, warming up a hot pocket and wincing every time Janus’ voice rose. Remus was covered in green gunk, which was not a nice change from his usual blood-stained, ratty-ass clothing. He was grinning, so that was terrifying and he also had his morningstar out, which wasn’t sheathed, which meant something had spooked him. Great. 

Janus was furious, and he was displaying that anger by hissing and arguing with Remus. Remy could tell he was already in a bad mood, but he didn’t know why. Wrath slowly walked back from the kitchen, hot pocket wrapped in a paper towel. He took a seat on the sofa next to Remy, who was lounging on it with his Starbucks, watching the argument with an amused expression. 

Wrath took a bite of his food and looked at the chaos in front of them. “Are they going to be done soon?”

Remy shrugged and took another sip of his latte. Pumpkin Spice, with two espresso shots and skim milk. “I dunno. Maybe another five minutes? If Remus can keep his mouth shut, that is.”

Wrath swallowed. “So, another two hours?”

Remy snorted and looked at the denim-clad side. “What’s up with you? Planning on doing anything today?”

Wrath shrugged, finishing his food. “Nothing much. I might ask Remus after he’s done if he wants to spar. Not like last time!” he added hurriedly as he caught Remy’s glare, “We’ll spar in the Arena. The living room won’t get destroyed.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Remy grumbled. He looked back at Janus and Remus to see they were done. “Oi, lovelies. Are you done yet? Or are you going to keep beating a dead horse?”

Remus’ eyes lit up and Remy immediately regretted all life decisions. “Ooooh. And what if, after you were done, you turned them into glue! And then you used that glue to-”

Janus shut him up. “Yes, Remy. We’re  **not** done.” He fiddled with his gloves, glaring at Remus, who still had his hand over his mouth. “If you ever do something like that again, not telling us where you’re going, I will  **not** make sure that I have you on a leash at all times. And before you say something,” he added upon seeing Remus’ eyebrow raise, “What I mean by that is one of us will be accompanying you at all times.”

Remus paled, as did Remy and Wrath. That was terrible. Remus wouldn’t be able to do all of the things he usually did, most of which were unspeakable and completely forbidden, with supervision. Remy and Wrath did not want to witness the unspeakable and forbidden things. It wasn’t like they didn’t like him, they loved Remus and they loved his ideas. However, seeing said ideas play out realistically was not something Wrath and Remy loved. 

Remus nodded reluctantly and Janus let his hand drop. Remus looked slightly sheepish. “Sorry, Janny.”

Janus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He seemed more tired today, Remy noticed. “Just don’t do it again.”

Remus nodded and Janus sighed again. “I’m going to my room. I’ll come out for dinner.” He walked out, cape trailing dramatically behind him. They all heard the door shut and soft click that informed them that he had locked the door. 

Wrath whipped his head back to Remus. “What did you do? I know that you didn’t just stay in the imagination.”

Remus beamed at him, previous sheepishness forgotten. “I pranked Roman! You should’ve seen the look on his face! He was acting like maggots were crawling out of his walls!”

Wrath sighed while Remy narrowed his eyes. “Were … maggots involved in any way?” Remy asked tentatively, not sure whether he wanted to know the answer.

“Nah. I stole his Disney posters and replaced them. You can still hear his cries of anguish from here.”

Remy winced. “I’m going to guess that the slime was a part of whatever you did. Oh my god, don’t come near me,” he added, seeing Remus move toward him, “I swear to whatever god is up there, if you get slime all over my outfit, I will stab you with my stilettos.”

Remus stuck out his tongue at him, but he stayed where he was. Wrath fiddled with his rings. Remy took another sip of his latte. He raised an eyebrow at Remus. “And judging by the way you’re all tensed up, I’m going to guess you ran into Morality.”

By the way Remus scowled at the mere mention of his name, Remy had guessed right. “He tried to get me to fix Roman’s room. So I told him that Roman had to fix my forest first. He did not like that one bit. So I told him to shove it.”

Remy pinched his nose. “You’re an idiot.”

“Did he hurt you?” Wrath blurted out, eyes wide. He reached out a hand, like he was going to summon his scythe. “Because he did, I can go get Janus and we can-”

Remus shook his head. “Nope. Just some cryptic bullshit on how I was going to regret this. Dunno what that means.”

Remy sighed and stood up, cracking his back. His crop-top rode up his stomach, glittery and completely Remy. He fixed his sunglasses and stared hard at Remus. “I won’t tell Janus that you went to the Light Side. But the next time you go and you don’t take one of us with you, you can bet your ass that I will.”

Remus nodded and Wrath began talking to Remus about sparring which Remus happily obliged. Remy rolled his eyes at the two of them and walked off, heels clicking against the floor. He passed Janus’ door and hesitated, but ultimately moved on. The snake was very picky about his sleep and Remy was never one to interrupt. Except for Thomas. But that was his job. He opened his door, the kaleidoscopic mess of a rainbow on his door. Yawning, he took off his leather jacket and hung it beside the door. Each side had a room tailored specifically to their tastes. Janus’ was very classy, bookshelves and a chandelier, with a small hidden wine cabinet in the corner. Remus’ changed constantly, a reflection of the Intrusive Side. The only thing that never changed was the bed, gigantic, but lumpy. Remus loved it. Wrath’s had walls covered with graffiti, a punching bag in the corner. 

Remy had a little bit more taste.

His was massive, with a vanity in the corner and a giant king-size mattress with tons of plush pillows. A sofa was pushed off to the side, a soft gray velvet. The walls were painted a nice rose pink with gold swashes. There was a door that led to the bathroom, which was equally dramatic. It resembled a Roman bath, though it was a lot smaller. Which also led to an equally dramatic giant walk-in closet. 

So maybe he might’ve gone a little overboard. Who cares? He was Sleep. Being over-the-top came with the whole package.

Remus was an idiot. What if he had gotten caught? Couldn’t he take out his anger on Roman in a way that didn’t involve running into Morality? There was nothing in the Light Side Mindscape that was worth dying for. He gently set down his sunglasses and snapped himself into silk pajamas. Yeah, it was only 3 in the afternoon, but he was tired and was probably going to stay up tonight. Remy smirked to himself. Logic was going to lose his shit tonight. Good. Yanking the duvet covers back, he climbed into bed, sinking into the soft mattress. He closed his eyes, losing himself to the darkness as Remy fell asleep.

◕

He woke up to banging on the door. Wrath’s voice could be heard through the door. “Wake up, it’s time for dinner.” He paused for a second. “Bitch.”

Remy groaned and Wrath laughed, footsteps fading away. He flopped the hand over his eyes. “I was  _ sleeping.  _ Do these people not know the importance of beauty sleep?”

The figure beside rustled. “Shut up,” it groaned, “I’m not ready for any of this.”

Remy grinned and turned to face the figure, propping his head up on his arm. “Oh, so the insomniac is finally sleeping?”

The person scrunched up his features, keeping his eyes closed. “I stay up all night doing  _ important _ things, unlike you, who spends it torturing Thomas with the lack of sleep.”

Remy rolled his eyes. “Sure you do.” Remy begins to pull away, but  **he** groans and tugs Remy closer to him. “I’m not leaving and neither are you.”

Remy raises his eyebrows. “Babe. Dinner.”

**He** curls closer to him. “Sleep. Heat.”

Remy sighs and puts his arms around the other side, running his hand through the other’s hair and tracing patterns on the other’s back. Remy pressed a kiss to the other’s forehead. “So are we going to get up for dinner or are we just going to stay here?”

His face was squished against Remy’s chest. “Stay here.” His voice was muffled. Remy laughed softly, pressing kisses all over his forehead. The other squirmed, loving the affection. Remy reluctantly pulled away despite the other’s protests, smirking as the other threw the blankets over his head in an effort to preserve warmth. “C’mon babe, we gotta go.”

He snapped himself back into his clothes, summoning his jacket and throwing it over his shoulders.

The other got up, muttering under his breath.  **He** turned away from Remy, tossing on his clothes that were discarded by the side of the bed. 

“Hey, sweetheart,” Remy picked up the shirt that was lying in the ground and tossed it over toward him, “You missed this.”

It hit  **him** straight in the face, causing Remy to double over in laughter. When  **he** straightened up, the other had their shirt over their head. Smiling, he picked up his glasses and slid them on, silently turning on the lights.

Remy faced **him.** “Well, emo. Are we ready to go fight with Janus again?”

Said emo scowled at him, eyes still scrunched up against the light. “No.”

“Too bad. Wrath said we have to.”

The spider snorted. “Because you have always listened to the other sides.”

Remy fake-gasped. “How dare you! I always listen to the opinions of others!”

The spider let out a small laugh and looked up smiling, deep-purple eyes full of fondness. Remy’s smile faded.

“Babe, what happened to your eyes?” 

The hoodie-clad side looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“They’re purple.” Remy crossed the room and took his head in his hands, staring at those violet eyes. They hadn’t been purple before. No, they had been a different color. What had it been? Red? Green? Blue?

“Remy?” he tried to move his head away, but Remy held on tight,“Remy, you’re scaring me.”

Remy didn’t let go, trying to place what color the eyes had been. Orange? No, that was Wrath. Yellow? Janus. Gray? That’s the bitch. But he hadn’t seen those gray eyes since….

Since…..

Remy backed away, hands shaking. The room seemed to be darker now, and blurry, no longer as perfect as it seemed. Those violet eyes followed him. “Remy? Remy? What’s wrong?”

Remy tried to answer, tried to get a word out from the lump in his throat, but it was too late as the darkness swept him under.

◕

Remy sat bolt upright in his bed, gasping for air. He turned to his side of the bed and was greeted by empty sheets. Haunted by violet eyes, he snapped his fingers and the lights turned on. 

The dreams were supposed to be getting  _ better.  _ Remy didn’t want to be reminded about  **him** all the time in his subconscious. It wasn’t like he cared about  **him** anymore anyway.

It wasn’t like he had these dreams often, happy endings ripped away.

It wasn’t like anyone was here to see him this time as he cried, sobs silently shaking his shoulders and forgotten tears rolling down his face.

  
  


⭑

The shadow flinched at the loud noise. As did the violet side beside them. Curving his hand protectively, he cupped the little shadow into his lap, his other hand handcuffed to the wall. Humming a small tune he barely remembered, he listened for sounds outside of the door. Arguing could be heard, a loud, angry voice and a more quiet, yet just as dangerous one. He swallowed. Maybe this time it would be quick. And then maybe he could go back to his room, and maybe he could eat some of the food he had hidden in there.

Maybe….

The voices finished having their argument. Footsteps faded and he took a deep, labored breath, trying to avoid irritating his ribs. Then another set of footsteps could be heard, walking straight to the door. Curling his hands around the shadow, he banished it to his room. It would do no good for his only friend to get destroyed just because he decided to be selfish.

The door creaked open and he flinched, dread pooling in his gut at what was coming.

“Hello, Anxiety. Right on time. I believe you and I were to be doing a few experiments, correct?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter any good? I kind of rushed it. Love all of you and thanks for all the kudos and comments!


	4. should have kept my mouth shut {look where it got us}

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> klaus pokes the sleeping dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW
> 
> Angst  
> Vague U!Roman  
> Vague injuries

**Klaus did not like awkward silences.**

It was so annoying. And terrifying. But mostly annoying. Now, instead of hearing someone else’s voice or actions, you had to listen to the buzzing in your ear and pray to whatever god was in the sky that the other person was going to speak up. And now you may think, but Klaus, you’re Wrath. This sort of thing shouldn’t concern you. Um, excuse me. Do you know how angering it is to talk to a person for a bit and them to just, “Yeah, okay” and then just awkwardly stand there with you for the next five minutes. Because let me tell you, it’s a number one leading cause for murder.

So, naturally, the Dark Side dinner table was basically his nightmare. Janus, still in a bad mood from today, was eating his food silently, not paying attention to the other sides. Remy looked terrible (not that Klaus would ever tell him that to his face). He kept picking at his food, not taking a single bite and his face was red, as if he had been crying (and Klaus would never, ever ask him if he did because he didn’t want to risk a repeat of  **The Great Make-up Disaster of 2015**.) Remus was also quiet, having picked up on the energy of the room. However, because he was Remus, he was making a giant penis castle with his mash potatoes. Klaus didn’t think that Remus was trying to do it on purpose, but unfortunately, that’s where he was. 

Klaus swallowed the leftover pork-chops that Janus had made yesterday. Janus was a great cook, mostly because he was the only one who could cook. Remus would try to add something that wasn’t meant to be eaten, Remy would serve everyone cereal and packaged food, and Klaus had nearly burned down the kitchen the last time someone had allowed to cook dinner. Okay, that wasn’t entirely correct. Remy  _ could  _ cook, but he didn’t want to. So, the snake was the one who had to cook. And Klaus would take that anyday over Remus trying to add bleach of all things to his food. He loved Remus very much, but if that gremlin ever tried to put dish soap in his soda again, the last thing Remus would ever see would be the bottom of Klaus’ boots.

Janus interrupted Klaus’ musings. “Remy, I swear, if you don’t eat your food, I  **won’t** sit here with you until you eat it all.”

Remy scoffed. “What am I, six?”

Janus took a sip of his wine. “Judging by the way you’re pushing your food around your plate, I wouldn’t be able to tell.”

Klaus shoveled more mashed potatoes into his mouth. He was not getting involved with this conversation. 

Remy glared at Janus. Janus stared back cooly. “Eat your damn food. Coffee isn’t a meal.”

Remy rolled his eyes, but obliged. Janus turned to Remus, who was busy constructing his penis castle. He sighed. “Remus, eat your food.”

“Hold on,” Remus’ tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth as he decorated his castle with bits of vegetables. He sat up triumphantly. “Done!”

Klaus eyed the castle. “Looks like a dick.”

“That was the point of it,” Remus grinned, all sharp teeth and deranged happiness, “Get it? Point?”

Klaus glared at his plate while Remy groaned. Janus pinched his nose. “Remus, eat your fucking food.”

Remus happily demolished his castle with his fork as he shoveled food into his face. Out of the four of them, Janus and Remy were the only ones who actually had manners. Klaus usually had his elbows on the table and was a sort-of messy eater and Remus didn’t know what manners were. 

Finishing his meal, he stood from the table and burped, grinning wickedly as Remy threw his napkin at him. “Remus, you're on dish duty tonight.”

Remus, who was now sitting upside-down in his chair, groaned. “But it’s not my turn to do it tonight! It’s your’s!” he argued, kicking his dirty boots against the wood of the chair.

“Wrath  **is** the one who decided to go traipsing into the Light Side,” Janus hissed. At Remus’ startled look, he nodded his head. “What? You didn’t think I would find out?”

Remus fiddled with his fingers. “I was hoping?” 

Janus snorted. “Hilarious. You have dish duty for the rest of the week.”

Remus flipped himself right-side-up on his chair. There was a look of deep offense on his face. “At least I went to the Light Sides. You won’t even take a step into Roman’s territory!”

Remy groaned into his coffee cup. “Oh boy.”

Janus hissed at Remus. “I’m sorry, but I don’t see the fun in having my face being taken off by a sword.”

Remus bared his teeth. “That’s not what I’m talking about. You go up there, you taunt them, but then you never actually do anything.”

Janus threw his hands up. “What am I supposed to do? Whack Patton with a blunt weapon and sing a song?”

Klaus shifted from foot to foot. All he wanted to do was get out of doing the dishes, but apparently Remus had a bone to pick. 

“At least it worked! I got them to listen to me and I got my point across!”

Janus pinched the bridge of his nose. “And effectively painted yourself as the villain, making it so the Light Sides  **would** listen to you again.”

Remus scoffed. “Who cares if they never want to see me again? I don’t care if I’m the bad guy, I have all of you guys, I’m not just going to up and leave like-”

He shut up, shooting a glance at the abandoned fifth chair that was right next to the kitchen. Remy was staring at his plate, pretending not to have heard Remus. Klaus fidgeted with his hands. He just didn’t want to do the dishes.

Janus was silent. “I know.” He looked up at Remus, his face solemn and sad. “I know, Remus.”

➳

  
  


Klaus kicked a stone as he walked down the path. He had asked Remus if he could use the imagination for a bit. The Creative Side had nodded, curled up with a sleeping Remy and an apologetic Janus kissing his forehead. He’d have to move them off the couch later, as it was probable that they were going to fall asleep. 

Breathing out, he tried to not focus on the argument that had taken place. The cool wind hit his face, rustling the leaves in the trees. The creatures of the forest knew better than to mess with him while he was on the path. It had been created by Remus after Klaus had asked him to make for something that allowed him to go into the imagination without being attacked. And so, the dirt path that seemed to never end was his solution.

Hunching over, Klaus pulled his denim jacket closer to his body. It was one of his most prized possessions, black denim embroidered with orange, covered with various patches, the largest of which was a scorpion on the back. In all honesty, the ripped denim jeans, the combat boots that were probably Remus’, and the short sleeve t-shirt were most likely not the best choices for the chilly weather in the Dark Side of the mindscape. The closer to the subconscious, the colder it got.

His boots trudged along the dirt path, leaving behind a set of footprints. Some of the forest was still burned, he noticed. Trees were a charcoal black and some were quite literally charcoal, having been burned from Roman’s attack on Remus’ forest. Yawning, he stretched- then froze.

Creeping along the side of the path was a small shadow, about a foot in length. It froze when Klaus spotted it and the two of them were locked in a staring contest. (sort of. The shadow had no eyes.) Then all of the sudden, the shadow darted off the path, leaving Klaus behind.

Klaus’ mind was racing. What was that thing? Is it one of Remus' creations? Did it come from the subconscious? Was it an escaped nightmare?

One way to find out.

Klaus stepped off the path, taking a deep breath. And then he was off, darting through the trees and low-hanging vines. Jumping off the rocks, he let a small grin out. This was exhilarating. He caught sight of the small shadow quickly moving through the forest. Running faster, he gained on the small shadow, getting closer and closer until-

Klaus skidded to a stop, breathing heavily. The shadow slipped over the small creek and faded into the distance. Into the Light Side of the Imagination. Klaus glared at the border. He hated it. He could still hear Morality’s voice from when he was first created, banishing him to the Dark Side.    
  


It was so bright on the other side. He wondered how the little shadow was able to survive in there. 

Whatever. It wasn’t his problem and he wasn’t an idiot to go and explore that side of the mindscape.

Klaus turned to go, but was unable to take more than one step before a blinding pain hit his head and it faded to black. 

⭑

The shadow curled over the violet side. He was sleeping now, his breaths labored, but at least he was still breathing. The shadow was on top of his chest, making sure that his heart kept beating.

At the sound of footsteps, the shadow curled closer to the side of the spider, hoping to blend into the room. The door opened, a red and white figure throwing a form inside the room. They hit the dusty floor with a thud and a groan and the figure closed and locked the door with a snort.

The shadow drew closer to the newcomer, curious. The figure raised his head blearily and the shadow noticed it was the same person that it had seen in the woods. The one who had chased after it. Was it one of the ones its spider had talked about? 

The shadow darted back to its friend, gently waking the other up. He sat up with a pained groan, catching the attention of the other in the room. They stared at each other for a moment, bruised purple and green eyes meeting sunset-orange ones. The shadow curled itself around the spider’s wrist, feeling his heartbeat pick up. Was the other one going to hurt its friend? Were they another of the bad ones? 

The newcomer stared at the spider in horror, mouth open in dread.

_**“Virgil?”** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I should write a fluffy anxceitmus fic. There's not alot of those.
> 
> My gremlin brain: A N G S T
> 
> Me: 
> 
> And so the plot begins. What did you guys think? Love all you guys and please comment because that's the only thing that gives me serotonin now.


	5. my memories came back {in the form of someone else}

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashbacks bitches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW 
> 
> Panic Attack

**Fear liked the shadows.**

_ They let him hide away from the others. He was safe inside them. No one could hurt him in here. Crouched in the corner of a room, he pulled the gray hood over his head. Fear’s long black hair protruded from the neck of the hoodie, making him hiss at it. He knew that his body was wrong, that there were some pieces that didn’t fit into the puzzle. He just didn’t know what. But his hair was annoying and he didn’t like it. _

_ Surveying the room he was in, Fear tried to take stock of what he knew. It wasn’t much. He knew he was Fear, that was his function. Fear also knew he liked using “he”. He had formed in this room, taking days to finally get a corporeal form. Legs twitched beside him, reminding Fear that he had eight eyes and six legs protruding from his back. He rather liked them, using them to curl in on himself and making him feel protected. The room was bare, white walls with a bed in the corner. There was a door, and he could hear voices and footsteps outside.  _

_ Fear shivered. He made a vow to himself that he would never go out the door and interact with the people outside. They were too loud and it was safer in here. _

_ Unfortunately, he didn’t get much of a choice. _

_ The door flew open with a bang, causing Fear to shriek and curl up even more with his spider-legs. Peeking through his fingers, he saw the person responsible for all the chaos. Another boy, maybe two or three years older than him (What was his age again? Eight? So this kid was ten?), with a white streak in his hair. He wore an outfit that reminded Fear of royalty, if royalty wore outfits that could get them hung for treason.  _

_ “So you’re the new side!” He was grinning maniacally, which did not comfort Fear in the slightest, “What’cha doin’ hiding in your room?” _

_ Fear hissed at him, baring his fangs. This did not seem to deter the older boy in the slightest. Instead his eyes widened in surprise at Fear’s eight eyes and fangs. “Wow, you have so many eyes. What’s it like? Is blinking weird for you? Are you scared that you might pop one of your eyes out if you rub it too hard? I’ve done it before, but Dee said I had to put them back because he wasn’t going to let me eat my eyeballs.” _

_ Fear was regretting all life choices, including his life. _

_ Another set of footsteps could be heard and another boy ran into the room. He looked to be just as old as the first one, with orange and black hair and a bandage on his cheek. He wore beat-up clothing and equally trashed shoes with a sheepish yet panicked expression on his face. _

_ “God-fucking-damnit Duke! Deceit told you not to go bother the new side! That means not breaking down his door!” The newcomer seemed out of breath and while Fear was scared, he was more annoyed by the fact that no one seemed to understand personal space. _

_ The first one or Duke, as he was called, stuck out his tongue. “The new kid was taking too long! Besides, Dee-dee was winking the whole time.” _

_ “His eye was swollen shut because you jammed your finger into his eye! That was a blink!” _

_ “Oh, so, it’s my fault?” _

_ “Yes!” _

_ Fear cleared his throat, catching the attention of the other two. He shrunk in on himself, mentally cursing. _

_ The bandage boy cleared his throat. “Um. Hello.” _

_ Duke elbowed him. “Where are your manners? Didn’t Double-Dee teach you anything?” He turned toward Fear. “My name is Lord Bitchard the second, esquire. And yours is?” _

_ Fear was so very confused. _

_ The other one rubbed his face. “Ignore him. His name’s Duke and I’m Wrath. What’s yours?” he asked, catching Fear’s eye. _

_ Fear hesitated. Who the fuck were these people? Wrath seemed to catch on. “It doesn’t have to be your real name,” he added, “Just your function.” _

_ “Fear,” he blurted out, “I’m Fear.” _

_ Duke squealed, sounding like a dying pig. “Fear? Is that why you’re a spider? Do you have venom? Do you molt? If you molt, can I have your old skin? Why do you only have six legs? Can you retract them? Do you-” _

_ Wrath slapped his hand over Duke’s mouth. Duke licked it, causing Wrath to shudder, but he still kept his hand over Duke’s mouth. _

_ “What am I?” Fear asked, curious. He stood up, twitching his spider legs. With a bit of disappointment, he found that he was a foot shorter than the other two. _

_ Wrath sighed. “You’re a side. A piece of a personality. I’m Wrath, Duke is half of Creativity-” _

_ “The better half of Creativity!” Duke shouted, having got away from Wrath and now eyeing Fear rather scarily. “Don’t forget about that!” _

_ “Sure.” Wrath sounded exasperated and Fear couldn’t help letting out a small giggle. Wrath gave him a tiny smile. _

_ Duke gasped and quickly crossed the room to where Fear was. Backing up nervously, he found the Duke examining him with a glint in his eyes. “What’s wrong? Itty-bitty Fear scared?” _

_ Fear hissed at him, raising his legs. The Duke just laughed, a bubbly sound. “Oh, I like you.” Offering his arm to Fear, he grinned at him. “My name’s Remus. You can call me that.” _

_ “Remus.” _

_ Wrath swore, whipping around. As did Remus, who, faster than Fear could blink, moved so he was now behind Fear, ducking his head and gripping the back of his sweatshirt, slipping his hands around Fear’s waist and pressing his face against Fear’s back. _

_ Another person stepped into the room and Fear swallowed back a gasp. The new person was dressed more classy than the other two, despite looking around their age. They wore a yellow button-down shirt with a black bow-tie and black jeans. They also wore a bowler hat which covered their hair. One of their eyes was red, as if someone had jammed something in it. But the most surprising thing was the yellow and green scales that covered half of his face. _

_ “I thought I told you that bothering the new side was the  _ **_best_ ** _ thing to do, you fucking moron,” the scaled newcomer hissed at Remus, who was using Fear as a human shield. _

_ Wrath quickly moved out of the other’s way. “I had no part in this.” _

_ Fear could feel Remus giggling into his back, carefully avoiding his spider legs.”Sorry, Snakey! Fear was taking too long and I wanted to play!” _

_ The other’s attention snapped to Fear. Fear shrinked under his gaze, curling his legs protectively. Who were these people? Why did the snake one seem like they were in charge? Why did Remus have two names? Did Fear have two names? Why did he have snake scales? Why did Fear have spider legs? Why did people keep coming into his room? Why was everything so loud? _

_ He hadn’t realized his breathing had picked up until a gloved hand was under his chin and he was being folded into a hug. _

_ “Breathe, love. Breathe.” A voice murmured to him. Fear fought to keep his breathing under control. A hand was rubbing soothing patterns onto his back, carefully avoiding his spider legs. “There you go, darling. It’s okay.” _

_ Fear shuddered from where he was, face in the crook of the other’s shoulder. He kept all of his eyes shut as the other pulled away a bit to survey him. _

_ “It’s alright. You can open your eyes now. We won’t hurt you.” _

_ Fear peeked open a pair of eyes, keeping the others shut. The one Remus had called Snakey was in front of him, smiling softly. “There you go.” _

_ Fear opened all of his eyes and the other smiled at him. “Sorry about that. I would’ve thought that the same two I told not to barge into your room would  _ **_not_ ** _ actually listen to me this time,” he said, raising his voice slightly and turning his head to look at Remus and Wrath. _

_ Wrath was a bright orange. “I tried to stop him.” _

_ Remus did not look remotely sorry. “I was bored and he was taking too long.” _

_ The scaled-one glared at him and Remus visibly winced. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry for barging into your annoyingly bland room and scaring you and disregarding Dee-dee’s orders even though he’s only a year older than I am and it feels like being bossed around by a twelve-year-old.” _

_ Dee looked exasperated and sighed. “That’s as good as I’m going to get.” He rose to his feet, offering one of his (six?) hands to Fear. “You may call me Deceit. You’ve met these two and Sleep is outside waiting to meet you.” _

_ Fear took his hand, standing up. “Does this mean you’ll get out of my room now?” _

_ Deceit snorted, then tried to cover it up with a gloved hand. “ _ **_No,_ ** _ we’re  _ **_definitely_ ** _ having sleepovers in here.” _

_ Fear glanced at him and smiled. Maybe they weren’t so scary. _

_ Remus was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “Can we go now? I wanna show Fear the Imagination! We can go play with the cannibal ducks!” _

_ Never mind. _

_ “All ducks are cannibals.” _

_ “What is it with you and ducks?” Deceit asked, sounding curious as he led the three of them out of the room, “You’re completely terrified of them.” _

_ Wrath shuddered. “Nasty beasts. I’d die before I ever helped a duck.” _

_ Remus smiled and sidled up to Fear, using him again as a human shield, this time against Wrath. “Why else would I create them?” _

_ As Wrath’s offended shrieks and Remus’ deranged giggles filled the air, as Deceit ignored the two of them and pulled Fear along to meet the leather-wearing side who needed an intervention with his caffeine intake, Fear felt safe without the shadows. _

_ He would be safe with them. _

◈

Janus woke up. Something was amiss.

Curled up with Remus and Remy, he ran through his head of all the things that could have possibly set the alarm off. There wasn’t much and Janus was currently cuddling with Remus.

Janus yawned. Maybe Thomas forgot to do something.

Ignoring the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something, Janus drifted off to sleep again, falling into the temptation of warmth and sleep.

And was left unaware of the pain and confusion emanating from the former Dark Side’s room.

~~ The spider should have stayed in the shadows. ~~

~~ But it's not like he had any choice. ~~

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha! You thought you were getting plot! 
> 
> In all seriousness,
> 
> Which POV would be more angstier for the next chapter, Klaus or Virgil?
> 
> Chapter title from Memories by Thutmose


	6. is the real life? or is it just fantasy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW 
> 
> Violence
> 
> UPatton  
> ULogan  
> U Roman

**Klaus would consider himself the most levelheaded of the Dark Sides.**

Janus often lost his temper, which was reasonable considering the stress that was placed upon him. Remy didn’t particularly like responsibility, as was his job. He loved drama and wouldn’t hesitate to create it. Remus…

Remus was not a calm person nor levelheaded. Enough said.

So that left Klaus. Klaus was the one to keep his cool in bad situations, the one who grounded everyone else. He was the optimistic one, most of the time, the one who tried to find the good in the bad. He never freaked out, just kept a good head on his shoulders. It was one of his best qualities. It had to be something major for Klaus to freak out.

His former friend/lover/partner in crime/eater of his food staring at him with a black and blue face and scars peeking out of his hoodie was most likely something major.

“Klaus?” Virgil whispered, voice low and hoarse, “Klaus, why are you here?”

Klaus could only stare at him. What the fuck had been going on in the Light Side? Why was Virgil bruised and bloody? 

“Klaus?” Virgil whispered. He crawled closer to Klaus, hissing as he shifted his body. No sign of his extra limbs and eyes. Virgil knelt right in front of him, his violet eyes boring right into Klaus’. Klaus remembered that his eyes used to be gray, before he left. 

Klaus couldn’t get his throat to work and even if he could, what would he say? ‘Hey Virgil, it's been a while since I’ve last seen you after you left the Dark Side for the Light Sides who are potentially abusing you! Hey, is that blood on your hoodie?’

He settled for, “Virgil, what’s going on?”

Virgil shrank back a bit. “Why are you here?” he asked again, not quite meeting Klaus’ eyes.

Klaus sighed. “One of the Light Sides brought me here. I was in the Imagination and they captured me. Happy? Now tell me what the fuck is going on.”

Virgil stayed silent, fidgeting with a hole in one of sleeves, shoulder slumping with what looked like resignation and sadness. Klaus could feel his concern and confusion growing. Janus had said Virgil was okay. That he had gone up there and seen Virgil happy with the Light Sides. Had it all been a lie? “Virgil, please tell me what’s going on.”

When Virgil didn’t answer again, Klaus pushed on. “Are they hurting you? Is that why you have bruises?”  _ Why didn’t you come back home when they first hit you? _

“What do you care?” Virgil shot back, anger in his eyes. Klaus flinched back. “You’re not even real. Just another illusion fucking with my mind again. I should have fucking known.”

Klaus could feel his heart breaking. “Virgil, I’m real.”

Virgil scoffed. “Sure. Because that’s what you say every time. And then every time, whether it’s you, or Remus, or anyone else, you’ll leave. And I’m left on my own.”

Klaus reached out shakily, taking Virgil’s hand into his own. Virgil didn’t even react, just biting his cuticles on the other hand. Klaus ran his thumb over Virgil’s bruised and scraped knuckles, his fingertips bleeding and red as if he had clawed at a hard surface. “Virgil, please believe me. I’m real.”

Virgil just stared blankly at the wall, ignoring him completely. Klaus could feel tears welling up in his eyes. How could they have not noticed? What had the Light Sides done to him? Why hadn’t he just come home? “Virgil, we have to go. The door to the Imagination isn’t that far away. We can escape through there.”

Virgil let out a broken laugh. “Do they have no originality? Gods, tell Roman next time they want to send another illusion of you, make sure they aren’t doing the same thing over again. It’s kind of repetitive.”

Klaus stayed silent, tears running down his face. He had a scrape on his side and his head felt like a giant bruise, but it was nothing compared to the dread and guilt that lined his stomach. He noticed that Virgil’s nail polish was chipped, remembering bleakly how Remy used to freak out at the sight. Used to. Because Virgil had left and come to the Light Sides and pushed away Janus and Remus and Remy and himself and wouldn’t come home even though the Light Sides were abusing him and Virgil had a scar on his face and his eyes were bruised and now his eyes were purple and there was blood all over the hoodie and it was all over the floor and Klaus felt the bile in his stomach rising and rising until-

Klaus rushed over to the corner of the room, vomit spewing from his mouth and onto the dusty floor. His arms were braced against the wall, shaking. Tears pooled in his mouth, mixing with the vomit. He spat on the ground a few times, back shaking with repressed sobs. His eyes burned and he couldn’t stop gagging, choking on his own puke. There goes dinner. Shame.

Klaus was such an idiot. Why hadn’t he gone up here before, seen for himself if Virgil was doing well? If he had done that, Virgil wouldn’t be here and everything would’ve been okay. But no, he had to be a prideful prick and pretend Virgil meant nothing to him. And now he was reaping the consequences. He walked back to Virgil, looking him straight in the eyes, scanning for any hint of recognition. Klaus received nothing back but a blank and irritated look.

Virgil hissed at him. “Go away.”

Klaus didn’t budge an inch. “Can you walk?”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Virgil. They’re abusing you. We have to leave.” Klaus tried to pull Virgil to his feet, but Virgil snatched his hand back and glared at him. He scooted back toward the wall, hissing.

“I’m not leaving. I don’t care what you say. You’re not real and you’re lying and I’m not risking starving because the illusion of my friend is trying to trick me into escaping.”

Klaus stared broken-heartedly at him. “I’m real. Not an illusion. I’m here for you. We’re gonna go back home, remember? Back to the Dark Side?”

Virgil violently jerked back, fear and pain written in his features. He scrambled back away from Klaus, pupils dilated. “No! I’m good, I promise. Please don’t send me back. I’ll be good I promise. I’m sorry for whatever I did, I’m sorry, just please don’t send me back. I’m not a bad person, I swear-”

Klaus dropped to his knees in front of Virgil, pulling away the hands that were scratching his face. “Virgil, Virgil, please listen to me. I’m real. I’m not fake. My name is Klaus, y’know Wrath?”

Virgil was sobbing, fighting Klaus for an inch of control. His face was red and bleeding from the tears and the scratches he inflicted upon himself. “Stop! Stop! Please stop, I’ll stop being bad.”

His throat closing up, Klaus managed to speak. “Virgil, please come home. I miss you, Remy misses you, Remus misses you, Janus misses you. We can go home.”

Virgil’s sobs subsided into loud gasps and spasms. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“I won’t hurt you,” Klaus promised, a lump in his throat, “But we have to get out of here.” He let go of Virgil’s wrists, rising to his feet, offering his hand to Virgil. He motionless for a second, eyes looking at him suspiciously before grabbing his hand tentatively and standing up with a pained groan. They stood like that for a moment, Virgil gripping the edges of Klaus’ jacket with his face buried in Klaus’ chest and Klaus softly rubbing the sides of Virgil’s body, careful not to irritate anything.

Virgil reluctantly pulled back, his hand still entwined with Klaus’. “I still don’t believe you’re real. But,” he hesitated, chewing on his chapped lip and Klaus watched with bated breath, “You feel real and I guess I am stupid to fall for this again.”

Klaus smiled despite it all. “That’s the spirit.” He looked toward the door. “Shall we?”

“It’s locked,” Virgil objected, looking exhausted and leaning most of his weight on Klaus, “From the outside. And I can’t sink out.”

“Well shit.” He glanced at Virgil. “Any bobby pins? Or paper clips?”

Virgil shook his head. “They searched my room after the first time.”

Ignoring the meaning that sentence held for now, Klaus gently got Virgil to lean against the wall and took a deep breath.

Virgil looked on in interest. “Are you going to run at the door?”

Klaus backed up toward the end of the room, near the wall. “That’s the plan.”

Virgil snorted. “Now I know you’re the real Klaus.”

Klaus huffed and braced himself for the pain that would follow. His eyes were on the door. One. Two. Thre-

The door slammed open. And Klaus nearly lost his balance as he rushed over to Virgil, who’s breathing picked up rapidly as Logic stepped into the room. His eyes glowing with rage, Logan seemed to not even notice Klaus at first.

“Didn’t we tell you to be quiet?” Logan demanded. Virgil was quaking beside Klaus. “I have work to do, I don’t need to be bothered with your childish emotions-”

He stopped short, eyes widening as he caught sight of Klaus. Klaus grinned and cracked his knuckles. Finally, he got to use all those pent-up emotions. He slammed his fist into Logan’s jaw, the logical side stumbling back. He hit him again and again, blood boiling in his veins. Logan’s glasses were broken, his nose as well, blood leaking out of it.

He was staring at Klaus in utter bafflement. “How did you get in here?”

Klaus didn’t bother giving him an answer before slamming his head against the wall and effectively knocking him out. He stood up, breathing hard and knuckles red. Virgil was staring at him. Klaus reached out a hand. “Come on. Before they all come.”

Virgil patted his arm as if making sure something was there, then stumbled his way across the floor, leaning on Klaus for support. They walked quickly through the hallway toward the imagination, Virgil’s breathing erratic and sharp in his ear. Klaus could hear someone downstairs, most likely Patton. Heartbeats pounding, they reached the door that led to the Imagination.

Creaking it open slowly, they listened for any hint of someone coming. Filing quietly inside, Klaus shut the door, turning to Virgil with a grin. “C’mon shorty. Let’s go.”

Virgil sighed. They walked quickly, trying to cross that wide expanse of land as fast as they could. “Hey Klaus?”

“Yeah, Virgil?”

“It’s okay if you’re not real this time. It was nice seeing you, even if you are just fake. I missed you.”

Klaus bit his lip. “I missed you too.”

⭑

Virgil didn’t exactly believe that Klaus was real, but he was happy to pretend.

Klaus was cursing under his breath, looking back every second. “Almost there. We’re almost there.”

Virgil felt bad. After all, Klaus could escape much more easily if he left Virgil behind. Virgil was just weighing him down. But he was selfish and didn’t want to let go of Klaus, even if he wasn’t real. He acted much more like himself than the other illusions and Virgil missed Klaus so much, even though Patton had told him that the other Dark Sides were bad.

Virgil scrunched up his nose. He didn’t want to be bad, but he didn’t want to be yelled at or hurt or beaten either. He supposed that made him selfish, just like they had told him he was. Umbra peeked its head out of Virgil’s sleeve. Virgil smiled at it. Umbra had told him Klaus was real, but he didn’t really want to believe it yet. He didn’t know why. 

Every step hurt, but Virgil was used to it. His binder felt like a band of fire around his ribs, but he hadn’t had the chance to take it off. His foot was broken as was his nose, and his leg felt like someone had taken a bat to it. Which was close enough.

Klaus was gripping onto the back of Virgil’s hoodie, eyes darting around frantically. They reached the clearing that was next to the stream which was next to..

The Dark Side.

Virgil’s breath caught. He really was going home. 

Klaus breathed out a sigh of relief. “Finally.”

“Finally what?” A voice enquired. The two of them whirled around, backing up as Roman walked out of the forest, sword raised. “Where do you two think you’re going?”

Klaus shoved Virgil behind him, making Virgil yelp with surprise and pain. “We’re getting out of this hellscape.”

Roman smirked. “And what does Anxiety have to say about that?”

Virgil wasn’t breathing. He had been so close, but now it seemed that his worst dread was coming true. Klaus summoned his scimitar, the curved blade catching the light. “He’s coming with.”

“We’ll see about that.” Roman swung his sword at Klaus. Klaus deflected, slashing at Roman. Roman parried and went on offense. Klaus glanced back at Virgil, who was standing there in horror. “Virgil, run!”

Virgil broke free of his stupor and darted for the border. God, he was so selfish. He was leaving Klaus behind. He was bad as Patton had said. No, he was worse. Fuck, fuck, fuck-

Roman slashed Klaus in the side with his sword, causing Klaus to cry out and fall to his knees. Roman laughed, raising the sword for one final strike. Virgil balled his fists up, feeling rage.

It was one thing to hurt him. He knew he deserved it. He was a bad side, all he did was hurt people. 

But what had Klaus done that made him bad? Klaus, with his pictures and art. Klaus, with his confused looks and lovable protectiveness. Klaus, with his warm smile and the way he made Virgil feel like a person who could be loved.

Klaus didn’t deserve it.

Virgil slammed into Roman, spider limbs and eight eyes, clawing at him and knocking the sword out of his hands. His nails cut the skin, injecting his venom and paralyzing him for a few precious moments. 

He rushed to his feet, ignoring the wave of agony that followed. Virgil pulled Klaus to his feet, panic rushing his movements. “You have to go.”

Klaus groaned, trying to staunch the bleeding. “Not without you.”

“He’s going to get up any second, you have to go without me. I can hold him off, he’s after me. He’ll kill you.” Virgil dragged Klaus closer to the border and farther away from Roman.

“Not without you, Virgil. I’m not leaving you behind.”

Virgil smiled at him. “I know.” He reached up and grabbed the collar of Klaus’ jacket, pulling him down for a brief kiss. Virgil then shoved him away with all of his limbs, “ **Umbra.”**

His shadow friend swirled out onto the clearing. Klaus’ eyes widened. Virgil cast a frantic look back at Roman, who was starting to stir. “ **Umbra, take him back to the Dark Side.** ”

Umbra hesitated. Virgil’s heart ached, but he didn’t have the time for this. His body was in agonizing pain from exertion and his breath was wheezing. “ **Now.** ”

Klaus stared at him, blood splattered against his face, and Virgil wanted to cry. “Virgil-”

Virgil shoved him across the creek. “ **Umbra, now!** ”

Umbra grew in size until it was twice the height of Klaus. It swirled around Klaus, trapping him in a shadow whirlpool. His orange eyes were wide. “Virgil, please-”

Umbra vanished him, and with one last look at Virgil, vanished as well, leaving Virgil alone. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or laugh with relief. 

Something slammed into the back of his head and Virgil dropped to the ground, wheezing. A red and white figure stalked in front of him and kicked him in the ribs. Virgil saw double and cried out, pressing his face into the ground. He felt the sharp edge of a sword press into his back. 

“What did you think you were doing?” 

Virgil didn’t answer, instead choosing to spit a glob of blood and spit onto Roman’s shoes. Roman made a noise of disgust and kicked Virgil in the face. Virgil didn’t feel it, though the blood that was streaming from his eyebrow was certainly testament to the fact that he did it.

Roman knelt down in front of Virgil and held his chin up with his hand, surveying Virgil’s eyes. His outfit was ripped and torn which Virgil felt a certain amount of satisfaction about. Roman smirked and ran a hand down one of Virgil’s spider limbs. Virgil shivered. At least Klaus was safe. 

“Well, these are certainly something a Light Side shouldn’t have.” Roman lifted his blade to run against the side of the limb.

“We’ll have to take care of that.”

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people!
> 
> Did I do okay with the angst? This will have a happy ending, I promise. Also, this might be the last update for few weeks. I'm moving and I might not be able to get to a computer. But this will not be abandoned. I will update this as soon as I can. That just might be a while.
> 
> Love you all.
> 
> {Hey, the shadow baby got a name.}


	7. some nights, I think of you relivin' the past, wishin' it last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> remus would rather not talk about the spider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW
> 
> Graphic depictions of injuries  
> U!light sides

**Remus woke up and knew something was wrong.**

Shaking the drowsiness from his eyes, he tried to figure out what it was. Janus was curled around him, his head on Remus’ shoulder. Remy was sprawled across their laps, glasses askew and mouth slightly open, drooling over the pillows. Remus grinned, wishing that he had his phone to take pictures. It made great blackmail. He gently moved the both of them so he could get up. Janus stirred, but Remy didn’t even shift a muscle. He must have been exhausted. Remus stretched, yawning. Spotting the dish soap on the counter, he grinned. Score.

Remus drank straight from the container, clad in only his boxers. Janus forgot to put it away in the cabinet. Remus kicked said cabinet, scowling at the child-safety lock that had been built for children with weapons. Allowing the soap to bubble up in his mouth, he figured it must be night-time, around midnight. Perfect. His favorite time of the night. Looking around, mouth full of dish soap, he wondered where Wrath was. He had said he was taking a walk in the Imagination, but Remus hadn’t really been listening because Janus was kissing his face and Remy had curled up against him and it had been really nice and he really didn’t want to move-

Remus had to remind himself that he was in the middle of figuring something out, not cooing over his loves. 

Blowing bubbles, he looked around to see if Wrath had come home. There wasn’t a trace of him. The door to the Imagination was shut, but that didn’t mean anything. Wrath had left, at what, when the sun was setting? Remus couldn’t exactly remember, having been half-asleep.

He sighed and stretched, scratching the side of his face absentmindedly. Remus took a last swig of the dish soap bottle, draining it, and walking off toward Wrath’s room, feet padding against the carpeted floor. He wasn’t completely sure why he needed to go check up on Wrath, but something was nagging at the back of his mind, kind of how when the hook has gone up your nose and you’re trying to drag your brain out piece by piece.

Still groggy and not quite thinking straight {Hah.}, Remus made his way to Wrath’s room, tracing his finger against the flames that Wrath had painted on the door. He didn’t bother snapping himself into clothes, simply gently knocking on the door, careful not to wake the others. 

“Vitamin C! Are you there?” Remus wasn’t sure why Wrath hadn’t given his name yet. Janus had given up his after a particularly nasty argument about keeping secrets. Remus had given his up immediately, screaming it at anyone in the nearest vicinity. And Remy had just dropped it casually one afternoon, walking out of the room with his iced coffee while the rest of them had stared after him. As far as Remus knew, Wrath had never told his name to anyone. 

But it didn’t matter. Names had a significant meaning behind it. It meant trusting someone, lowering that shield that guarded a side from everyone else. If Wrath wasn’t ready to give up that shield yet, it was fine. Remus had plenty of nicknames for his twisted tangerine. Wrath could take his time with his name. Remus would be ready for if and whenever Wrath gave up his name. 

However, if Wrath took his sweet time getting to the door, Remus was going to have words with him.

He knocked again. “Wrath?”

No response. Crickets. Nada. Nothing.

Remus clicked his tongue, making that noise he knew Wrath hated. “C’mon scorpion, I wanna make sure you’re okay.”

Wrath didn’t answer. Remus sighed, looking over his shoulder at the other two sides to make sure they were still asleep. They were. “Wrath? You in there?”

When he didn’t hear a single peep coming from the door, Remus grew impatient. “Wrath? What the fuck are you doing? Is this payback for the rubber ducks? Because if it is, I really don’t like you.”

Not a single noise came from inside the door. Remus knocked again. “Wrath, if you don’t give me some sign that you’re alive, I’m going to kick the door down and strangle you with my love and affection.”

Wrath didn’t respond. Was he not in there? But Remus didn’t sense anyone in the imagination and he would’ve heard Wrath if he was in the other rooms. He had to be in there.

“One.”

Silence.

“Two.”

All Remus could hear was Janus and Remy softly snoring in the other room.

“Three.”

~~ Oh, gods this was just like when Virgil left and he never answered so Janus opened the door and there was nobody there and Virgil was  _ gone _ - ~~

Maybe Wrath was asleep?

“Four.” Remus cocked his head. “Fuck it.”

He kicked the door open, taking a second to adjust to the feelings of irritation and annoyance that came from the orange side’s room. His green eyes darted around the messy room, the lights off and the graffiti faintly glowing in the dark, neon orange and various other colors. The worn-out punching bag was in the corner, the leather canvas ripped and torn. The bed was a mess, as usual, blankets and pillows strewn about the floor with random weaponry hidden underneath.

But his rotten pumpkin was nowhere to be found. 

Remus’ breathing increased rapidly, his hand coming to grip the doorframe. Where the fuck was he? Remus couldn’t sense him in his side of the imagination, but something could have happened to change that. His mind swirled with images of Wrath lying on the floor, Wrath bleeding scarlet all over the ground, Wrath’s eyes wide and unseeing, Wrath gone, Wrath  _ dead _ -

Remus shook his head, hand coming up to run through his hair. His breathing slowed as he tried to clear his head of the images now flooding his brain.  _ Come on Remus, in and out. _

Remus straightened. Wrath was probably in one of the other rooms. Remus just hadn’t heard him. Remus mentally cursed himself for freaking out. Wrath was fine, he wasn’t hurt or dying. Stupid thoughts.

After all, what sort of trouble could Wrath get into?

  
  


♚

Fuck.

Wrath wasn’t here.

Remus paced through the halls, footsteps and breathing erratic and fast. His mind was playing images non-stop, images of Wrath bloody and dying, of Wrath screaming out in pain, of Wrath alone in a shadowy room, broken and still.

His fingers were twitching. Wrath wasn’t in his room. He wasn’t in any of the other rooms that Remus had created. He wasn’t in the dark side of the Imagination. He wasn’t in any of the others’ rooms. He wasn’t in, {Remus choked} Virgil’s room. {Though Remus doubted that Wrath would ever willingly step foot in that room.}

_ So where the fuck was he? _

Janus. He needed Janus. Janus would know what to do. Janus would fix this. 

Remus made his way into the living room, stumbling around in the dark. “Janny. Wake up.”

Janus stirred. “Mmmm.”

Remus shook Janus’ shoulder. He did not have time for this. “Wake. Up.”

Janus groaned and shifted. “No.”

Remus was hyperventilating. “Janus, please.”

Janus sat up at that, Remy still dead to the world. Remus never pleaded or begged. “Remus?”

“Wrath’s missing and I don’t know where he is and he’s not in the imagination and he could be hurt and I need your help to find him.” Remus’ chest was heaving and his fingers were reflexively curling in on themselves.

Janus stared at him, blinking. “But he’s right behind you.”

Remus squinted at him, disbelieving. “No. He’s missing. Why else would I wake you up?”

Janus frowned at that. “Remus. Turn around.”

Remus rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Turning around, he was already opening his mouth to ask Janus how much sleep he was getting when he came face to face with the same person he’d been looking for.

Wrath.

Remus stared at him for a second. “Wrath? What the fuck?”

Wrath stared at him for a second, pale and disoriented. Remus’ eyes widened when he saw the blood leaking out of his shirt and the bruises on his face. Wrath opened his mouth to speak, but his legs gave out as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, toppling into Remus’ arms.

♚

Janus is wrapping bandages around Wrath’s stomach. Remus swallows, a sickly feeling in his gut, staring at the long and vicious cut on Wrath’s side. A rather nasty bruise covered the side of his face along with the bleeding gash on his forehead. He was unconscious, his chest rising and falling. If it wasn’t for all the blood, Remus would have assumed he was sleeping.

Janus finished bandaging Wrath, sitting down on the edge of the couch. Remy was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and expression full of concern. Janus sighed and ran his hand through Wrath’s hair. Wrath stirred, but didn’t wake up.

“Okay, Remus. Tell us exactly what happened when you woke up.” Janus kept his gaze on Wrath, his voice neutral and flat.

Remus took a deep breath, feeling as though there were eels inside his stomach. In fact, it felt  _ exactly  _ like that, which Remus had learned from first-hand experience. “I woke up and something was off. Like y’know, how you feel when a shark is right beneath you when you’re swimming and there’s just this feeling before you’re bit and torn in half and your guts are flying all over the place-”

“Focus, Remus.”

“Right.” Remus shook his head. “So I got up, drank some soap-”

Remy smacked his head at this.

“I only drank the dregs,” Remus defended himself, pouting at Remy, “And then I wondered where Wrath was because I couldn’t sense him in the Imagination and I thought he was in his room, but he wasn’t in his room so I checked everywhere else, your room, Remy’s, mine, even Virgil’s-”

Both Remy and Janus winced, but Remus plowed ahead.

“But he still wasn’t there, so I went to go get Janny and then Wrath appears out of fucking nowhere and fucking collapses in my arms like a disney princess.”

“But why is he bleeding?!” Remy burst out, his hands clenched into fists. His body posture was tensed up, his voice tight. “What happened?”

“I don’t know!” Remus twisted his hands together in a knot. “I don’t know.”

Janus ran his hand through Wrath’s hair. “Maybe he got hurt by one of the creatures?”

“But that wouldn’t explain how he appeared out of nowhere. You can’t sink out of the Imagination. You have to go through the doors. And he couldn’t have been in the mindscape because I already checked there.” Remus had begun pacing, chewing on his lip. There was a distant idea going on in his head, a small nagging that was being overpowered by the graphic images filling his head.

“Maybe he got hurt and the Light Sides found him?” Remy suggested tentatively, making eye contact with Janus. “Then he sunk out from there?”

Janus shook his head as Remus snorted. “They hate us. They wouldn’t touch us with a six foot pole. The Light Sides wouldn’t save one of us if they could.” 

“Well, maybe…”, Remy bit his lip, hands clenching even tighter, “Maybe it was Virgil?” His eyes were on the floor, not making eye contact with the other two sides.

Janus was quiet. Remus scowled and dug the tip of his boot into the floor. Maybe. Maybe Virgil cared enough not to let them die.  ~~ would this mean that he still loved them?  ~~ Maybe Virgil saved him.  ~~would he talk to them again?~~ Maybe since Virgil just didn’t want them in his lives anymore, so when Wrath fell back in his life, Virgil would do anything to get them out.  ~~ but if he saved Wrath that meant he still cared for them a little bit so maybe he would come back? ~~

Maybe……

“Virgil?” Wrath’s voice cracked. He was sitting up, orange eyes wide. Remy breathed out a sigh of relief as Remus rushed over to Janus’ side, taking Wrath’s hand in his own.

Remus ran a callused finger over Wrath’s wrist. “What happened?”

Wrath was still staring at him, chest rising and falling with each breath. “Is Virgil here?”

Janus drew back, his face unreadable. “No. He doesn’t live here, remember?”

“Yeah, I know, I just- “ Wrath broke off, looking around the room wildly, as if searching for something. “He wasn’t with me?”

Janus was looking at Wrath with concern. “Wrath, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Wrath was getting up, moving off the couch. Remus pushed him back down. “Let me go, Remus.”

“No. What the fuck happened?” 

“Virgil. I need to-”

“Bitch, hold up,” Remy held his hands up, “ _ Virgil  _ did this to you?”

“What? No!” Wrath looked horrified and Remus felt a small wave of relief wash over him. It was quickly undone by Wrath’s next words. “He saved me. I need to go rescue him.”

Janus was staring at him. “What.”

“They’re hurting him. Please. I have to go back. I have to go get him back.” Wrath was struggling against Remus. Any other day, this would have been a fair fight. But Wrath was injured and Remus was running on adrenaline and dish soap.

Janus stood up, face unreadable. “Wrath, you obviously  **don’t** have a concussion. If you attempt to do so, I will have Remy put you to sleep.”

Wrath looked up at Janus, orange eyes pleading. “I know what I saw, Janus. Virgil’s hurt. He saved me from them.”

Janus shook his head, expression becoming a little more caught between emotions. “Wrath-”

“I’ll go.” Remus interrupted the two of them. 

Remy choked.

“I’ll go,” Remus repeated, meeting Wrath’s eyes. “I’ll go check on him. Go make sure he’s alright. But you have to stay here.”

Wrath stopped fighting him, searching Remus’ eyes for any hint of deceit. “Promise?”

Remus swallowed, a lump in his throat. “Promise.”

Wrath nodded slowly and his eyelids closed, fading off toward sleep. The bruises were sallow in the light and the bleeding had stopped. His chest rose and fell evenly, unlike Remus’ frantic heartbeat.

Remus shakily rose to his feet, ears ringing with past conversations, { _ You promise, Dukey? You’ll hold my hand if I get scared?}  _ and thoughts that were too gruesome to name. He flashed a blinding grin at Janus, who was staring at him. “Be right back.”

Before Janus and Remy could speak, he was gone.

♚

His footsteps barely made a sound as he walked into the Light Side mindscape.

He wasn’t completely sure why he had promised Wrath that he’d go find Virgil. Out of all of the Dark Sides, Remus was the one who  ~~ missed  ~~ despised the spider the most. But here he was, sneaking through the Lightside, on his way to find the person who shattered his heart into sharp, jagged pieces.

He stopped at Virgil’s door, listening for any sounds of the others. Roman and Patton’s snores greeted him, as well as the quiet breathing coming from Logan’s room. Perfect.

Ignoring the temptation to go draw a mustache on Roman, Remus tried the knob to Virgil’s door. It was locked. Well, that was weird, but nothing a bobby pin couldn’t fix.

Remus creaked open the door and was greeted by a wave of bone-chilling air. Remus frowned. Virgil was cold-blooded, which meant he liked having his room warm. Not freezing his ass off and slipping into a coma.

Remus stepped inside, shivering and glancing around the room. It was bare, no decorations of any sort. Just a cold, bare room with a ratty mattress with a lump on it.

Wait.

Remus strode over to the mattress and his mind went blank for a second. After all, how could he come up with something more horrifying than this?

Virgil’s spider legs were out. Which would be a welcome sight if it weren’t for the fact that they were barely there.

As in. Virgil’s legs had been destroyed.

Jagged bone and tissue material stuck out of Virgil’s bare back, his shirt and binder gone and his hoodie thrown in the corner. Remus could see where some of the limbs had gone, disgracefully thrown across the room. Blood leaked out of the wounds, making a gorey canvas. Remus could see various scars and burns littering Virgil’s body, some of them more recent than others. His lips and the tips of his fingers were blue. He was in a coma. From the cold or the pain, Remus couldn’t tell. Remus, with an eerie calm, reached for his pulse.

Soon after this, after Remus had determined Virgil was breathing and alive, Remus would wrap the spider oh-so tenderly in his hoodie, carefully carrying Virgil out of that ice-cold, empty room, out of the Light Side Mindscape, out of the Imagination and into the arms of the Dark Sides. Later, as Remus stroked Virgil’s hair as the violet side slept, he would cry into Janus’ shoulder, the deceptive side crying tears of his own, emotions running high. And maybe later, after Virgil had woken up, maybe questions would be answered and secrets would be discovered.

But for now, Remus would stare at Virgil’s beaten and battered body, disbelieving and shocked. He would keep his fingers on Virgil’s pulse, feeling that faint heartbeat, a hurricane of emotions overtaking his senses. 

Patton’s words echoed through his head, a threat that was followed through.

_ You’ll regret it. _

And he did.

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I'm moving, so it might take a bit for the next chapter to come out. I'm also trying to work on my other work, so it might take a bit. The next set of chapters will focus on Virgil recovering and the Dark Sides learning about what happened in the Light Side. Comments are loved and so are kudos. Thanks for reading!
> 
> But seriously,
> 
> You don't know when the next update is and neither do I.

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will be fucking random. 
> 
> Brought to you by: Quarantine and Stress.


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